Tularemia and rhabdomyolysis

Rhabdomyolysis as a complication of tularemia occurred in four patients in Tennessee over a four-year period. All patients were severely ill and had renal failure. Tularemia was not suspected initially in any of these patients. One patient died of complications of rhabdomyolysis. At autopsy, multiple abscesses were present within skeletal muscle, suggesting that rhabdomyolysis resulted from direct muscle involvement with Francisella tularensis. Tularemia should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with an acute febrile illness and rhabdomyolysis. Conversely, in patients with acute tularemia, the possibility of rhabdomyolysis should be entertained early, especially in those with evidence of myoglobinuria and/or impaired renal function.